The USA is a big place!!!!

[peanut]

I cant imagine living in such a huge country , so much to see..Ive lived in England for over 50 years, all my holidays are spent here sightseeing/touring and theres still places Ive yet to see & some I doubt Ill ever get to visit so theres no chance in this lifetime to see the countries on my 'wishlist' - the States,Canada Australia, central Europe....

never say never

Like you I've spent all my life holidaying in England (61 years) only managing to tour Europe twice in that time.

We recently bought a campervan of all things and despite my reservations it has transformed our lives.We can go anywhere at a moments notice and can live in the van for extended periods either wild camping or on campsites, tour and stop anywhere Brilliant!

We have decided to tour the coast of Britain and visit all the places we have never seen and when my Dad falls off his perch we are going to tour Europe too.

I'm hoping to hitch a trailer for my xs650 but my partner won't go anywhere near a motorbike

I reckon we should plan a uk member trip on our bikes somewhere in the spring, maybe Europe

 

[essexboydave]

never say never

Like you I've spent all my life holidaying in England (61 years) only managing to tour Europe twice in that time.

We recently bought a campervan of all things and despite my reservations it has transformed our lives.We can go anywhere at a moments notice and can live in the van for extended periods either wild camping or on campsites, tour and stop anywhere Brilliant!

We have decided to tour the coast of Britain and visit all the places we have never seen and when my Dad falls off his perch we are going to tour Europe too.

I'm hoping to hitch a trailer for my xs650 but my partner won't go anywhere near a motorbike

I reckon we should plan a uk member trip on our bikes somewhere in the spring, maybe Europe

I'd love to do the British coast, that'd be a cracking trip
I'd be up for some kind of UK members trip too but I think it may be easier to figure who's where and meet up for a weekend's camp somewhere in the middle, I reckon we should find out if we all get along in real life before we go heading off somewhere

 

[jayel]

I'd love to do the British coast, that'd be a cracking trip
I'd be up for some kind of UK members trip too but I think it may be easier to figure who's where and meet up for a weekend's camp somewhere in the middle, I reckon we should find out if we all get along in real life before we go heading off somewhere

War of the Roses, Roundheads, maybe a few other scraps, how many civil wars did you guys have? Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah is large enough to see the curvature of the earth

 

[XS1961]

Im thinking of converting my VW Transporter to camping spec & bunging the wife & kids in the back with one of my bikes...
Im too old for road trips these days , besides we've just had a new baby( They range from 30yrs to 8 weeks now!)so Premier Inns or Campers for the next few years (Drier too)!!

 

[essexboydave]

War of the Roses, Roundheads, maybe a few other scraps, how many civil wars did you guys have?

Life in the UK is and probably always has been an endless run of civil wars, it's just that some get advertised more than others

 

[essexboydave]

Im thinking of converting my VW Transporter to camping spec & bunging the wife & kids in the back with one of my bikes...
Im too old for road trips these days , besides we've just had a new baby( They range from 30yrs to 8 weeks now!)so Premier Inns or Campers for the next few years (Drier too)!!

I rarely do any long trips on the bike these days, just getting too old for it really Still do some camping weekends but usually take the car for that, I do have a plan to get hold of an old hearse and kit that out to carry the bike and the camping gear in it but whether or not that plan will ever come to fruition is anyones guess!

 

[littlebill31]

I have an absolute love for anything British. Bikes, cars, food, design, lifestyles, TV shows, just find it all wonderful. So I watch a lot of BBC America too. I like the show Top Gear. Funny stuff. I got a huge laugh out of the "Caravan" episode and their loathing of those vehicles. My wife lived in Ireland for a period of time and told me about some folks that turned down right nasty towards people in caravans. Is it that bad? Or do we just have a misunderstanding of it?

 

[peanut]

I My wife lived in Ireland for a period of time and told me about some folks that turned down right nasty towards people in caravans. Is it that bad? Or do we just have a misunderstanding of it?

I've not heard about that but I could understand it if it was in Southern Ireland as the roads used to be really narrow and poor so 10 miles at 25mph behind a holiday maker in a caravan would seriously challenge anyones sense of humour

Thats always been the problem in Britain.... the poor roads . None of the roads around our village are wide enough for 2x small cars to pass so if a caravan comes from the opposite direction guess who always gets to back up

 

[peanut]

Im thinking of converting my VW Transporter to camping spec & bunging the wife & kids in the back with one of my bikes...
Im too old for road trips these days , besides we've just had a new baby( They range from 30yrs to 8 weeks now!)so Premier Inns or Campers for the next few years (Drier too)!!

congratulations mate !

 

[peanut]

I'd love to do the British coast, that'd be a cracking trip
I'd be up for some kind of UK members trip too but I think it may be easier to figure who's where and meet up for a weekend's camp somewhere in the middle, I reckon we should find out if we all get along in real life before we go heading off somewhere

I'd be up for that . I'm down in South Somerset whereabouts are you lot ?

 

[jayel]

I have an absolute love for anything British. Bikes, cars, food, design, lifestyles, TV shows, just find it all wonderful. So I watch a lot of BBC America too. I like the show Top Gear. Funny stuff. I got a huge laugh out of the "Caravan" episode and their loathing of those vehicles. My wife lived in Ireland for a period of time and told me about some folks that turned down right nasty towards people in caravans. Is it that bad? Or do we just have a misunderstanding of it?

Travellers not Caravaneers
there is a sub-set that (gypsies, tramps, and thieves) generally makes asses of themselves moving in on places, taking over trashing the place, english law has a hard time evicting them so they are generally not welcome and looked down upon
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_Travellers

 

[MrBillohnooo]

Although I didn't grow up in Texas, it still baffles me that it is only 10 miles difference from Amarillo, TX to St Louis, Missouri than it is from Amarilla (local slang) to Beaumont Texas. St Louis being farther.

 

[XS1961]

congratulations mate !

Cheers Peanut.. God, Im so tired!

Thats always been the problem in Britain.... the poor roads . None of the roads around our village are wide enough for 2x small cars to pass so if a caravan comes from the opposite direction guess who always gets to back up

Same here!

I have an absolute love for anything British. Bikes, cars, food, design, lifestyles, TV shows, just find it all wonderful

 

[I am Carbon]

Well I'm no stranger to the beach The Florida coastline is about 1,350 miles and this includes 580 miles for the Atlantic Ocean area and 770 miles for the Gulf Coast. Florida has the longest coastline in the contiguous United States. And 60° Fahrenheit = 15.5555556° Celsius is considered cold

 

[1974jh5]

I've been a British car nut all my life, had Triumphs, MG's and now Jensen Healeys, my dad had MG's in the '50s and Jaguars later on. I've always wanted to go visit West Bromwich (Jensen factory), Abingdon (MG plant), Canley (Triumph plant) and Coventry (Jaguar plant).

It's well known among Jensen owners that the way to keep the car happy is to face West Bromwich and pray at least once a day.

I had a friend whose mother was from England, his dad was Mexican. Interesting combo, interesting family. She used to tell us about how the house she grew up in had a thatched roof and had been in her family for something like 600 years. As of ~1980 she was talking about how she and her husband were planning to retire there.

 

[2poler]

<-------------- originally from Ohio (Dayton area) When I moved to Chicago the first 20-30 people I met where all from Ohio. It took me almost a month living in Illinois to meet someone not from Ohio.

 

[Purplezinger]

If you come across the pond to visit, welcome, have a great time touring. But, remember we drive on the other side of the road. As obvious as that is, it can be incredibly dangerous especially when your long imprinted driving instincts kick in. Come visit, enjoy and be alert. Some years ago we had a visiting Goldwing couple turn into the wrong lane, head-on into a truck. Please be alert!

 

[peanut]

If you come across the pond to visit, welcome, have a great time touring. But, remember we drive on the other side of the road. As obvious as that is, it can be incredibly dangerous especially when your long imprinted driving instincts kick in. Come visit, enjoy and be alert. Some years ago we had a visiting Goldwing couple turn into the wrong lane, head-on into a truck. Please be alert!

the only time I've run someone down in 60 years was an elderly American couple who were crossing the road in Bath UK. They looked right instead of left and both stepped out in front of me !

I was travelling about 20mph on my bicycle and mowed them both down knocking both of their feet!

They were most apologetic ... I was worried that I'd killed them

 

[essexboydave]

If you come across the pond to visit, welcome, have a great time touring. But, remember we drive on the other side of the road. As obvious as that is, it can be incredibly dangerous especially when your long imprinted driving instincts kick in. Come visit, enjoy and be alert. Some years ago we had a visiting Goldwing couple turn into the wrong lane, head-on into a truck. Please be alert!

I've already found that when me and some friends toured France, we were fine coming off the ferry as there were plenty of signs telling you to keep right but it was the road junctions, especially roundabouts, that caught us out for the first couple of days. The strangest part though was when we returned home 2 weeks later, we'd caught an overnight ferry and got off the boat at around 5am on a Sunday morning, as we were first off the boat the roads were totally empty and we did the first 15 miles on the wrong side of the road and only realised our mistake when we saw a car coming straight at us!!!!!

 

[1974jh5]

I believe it's Finland where they drive on the wrong side of the road and at the border crossings the roads are set up to swap traffic to the correct side of the road, depending on whetr you are entering or leaving.